Think of it as the more fun, much more enjoyable sequel to the other threads.

Another thing I remember. I had gotten my hands on a copy of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, but I was told it didn't work. I figured maybe it'll work in my Genesis, but try as I might, the SEGA logo would not show itself. With that said, I went back to Sonic 2. Not long after that however, my Sega plug was fried. It was left on for a long time while the plug was sitting under some clothes that were on the floor. I can honestly say I don't remember who left it running or how the clothes ended up on top of the plug. The Genesis was in my parents room at the time, and I have 4 siblings, 2 older and 2 younger. The point is, I couldn't play Sonic or any Genesis game for that matter, not for years anyway. Of course, today I have the first Sonic for a few different consoles as well as a working Gen 2 with plug.

I was told once that I could substitute a Nintendo plug for the Sega, well, that would have worked for a Gen 1, but the Gen 2 has a smaller input along with the Gen 3. I believe the Game Gear has the same plug as well.

I can't quite remember what age I was... probably around 4, when my grandmother bought me the Genesis/Sonic 2 bundle for Christmas. So my first game was Sonic 2. I don't exactly remember when I first played 1, but I know I didn't get it that same Christmas. When we did get Sonic 1 I remember my mom really enjoying it, which is strange since she hates video games (even today). So you can imagine how hard it was for a 5 year old to share their precious Sonic game XD

I played Sonic 2 so much that the cartridge finally died, though I never got a replacement for some reason.

I actually discovered Sonic pretty late. Maybe about... 2005? The first Sonic game I played was Heroes, and I didn't enjoy it very much. Back then I was a Mario man, but I did enjoy some of the Sonic Advance titles.

About 2 years ago a friend introduced me to S3&K and I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Since then my interest in Sonic eventually snowballed into what it is today.

When Sonic first ran into my life? Like a brick wall with hairy legs he did! =P Btw, nice topic title OP; made me chuckle.

I had just learned how to read and beaten my first game ever (LoZ: A Link to the Past) at age six. Didn't know what a Sonic was, and didn't know what a Genesis was either.

Barely six months later, my dad buys a used Genesis (Rev II) from one of his friends, and it came with Sonic 2. After he found a working RF cable for it, we all gave it a shot and loved it to pieces. I still vividly remember racing with my mom in splitscreen mode through Casino Nights Zone, and getting frustrated with Chemical Plant's water sections. The lack of a save option was a huge pain too. xD Didn't get around to beating it until I was age nine!

That's not when my interest in Sonic really started, though, at least not until Sonic Adventure came out on the Dreamcast. Heck, I didn't even know there were other Sonic Genesis titles until that point! I had a lot of catching up to do to say the least. ^_^

EDIT :

Quote

I played Sonic 2 so much that the cartridge finally died, though I never got a replacement for some reason.

Why ever not? It's like the cheapest game to find on the internet (With the case and manual) besides FFVII on the PSX, for like 2 bucks. D: Then again, if you played it until the cart died, I'd guess your interest in the game was effectively dead at that point too?

Sonic first ran into my life when I was in first grade back in 2001. My grandpa bought Sonic & Knuckles Collection along with a joystick for my computer at a garage sale and gave it to me for my birthday.

I jammed that baby in my computer and fell in love with it. I never got tired of playing S3&K and to this day I still rape that game. Nothing will ever come close to it. All the time I spent on it made me love Sonic more and more.

It defined my childhood and what I look for in games, so to me.. most games can't compete with a Sonic game cause I just love it that much.

I was barely 3 or 4 (I think) when I played the original Sonic the Hedgehog. I was at a babysitter's house, and she plopped me in front of a TV with a Sega Genesis controller. At that point, I was still fascinated at the idea that I could directly control a video game character with a controller. I remember running into the first gray stone in Green Hill Zone and trying to figure out if it had any use; I tried pushing it, jumping on it, etc. Eventually I just stood still for a bit and watched with amusement as Sonic looked at me with impatience.

The rest is a massive blur, until about a year later when we got our own Sega Genesis at home with Sonic 2. It was an epiphany for me, since before that point I was actually afraid of playing a lot of video games for some reason. Sonic 2's cheerful atmosphere negated that fear, and I had tons of fun playing with my older brother. He'd play as Sonic and I would take over the AI Tails and help him beat up bosses. So while it wasn't my absolute first encounter with the Blue Blur, I would count that as the first time he ran into my life.

I was 8, back in 2005. Me and my Dad went to Sam's Club, and then something caught my eye; Sonic CD, Sonic R, and the Sonic & Knuckles Collection all in one package for 39.99. Actually I had never heard of Sonic or even played a video game before but something attracted me to that little box. So my Dad bought for me and when I got home (Remember I was 8) I had no idea how to install them and my Dad left for a trip. I somehow managed to Sonic CD to work and I played it four HOURS on end. But I could never get passed Collision Chaos boss, I sucked at pinball, then once my Dad got home I asked to him install the rest. I played the S&K collection and played it to death and loved it. But once I put in Sonic R, oh boy, ALL my friends wanted to play it! I'd almost never have the CD at my house cause my friends would "borrow it" for like 2 weeks, all the more time for me to play S&K.Sonic R was by far the most played by me and my friends, and yeah, I do like Sonic R. After that I wanted more, when I turned 10 I upgraded my pc and got Sonic Heroes, SADX, Sonic Riders. I hated them all except the Sonic and Tails levels in SADX, I wondered what happened to the quality of the old games. So instead I downloaded fan games ,which at the time were way better than what SEGA was releasing, some of you might know SRB2.

I was at least 2 or 3 when I discovered Sonic. My parents knew I loved computer games (Seriously, I didn't even go to the bathroom when I was playing. Yes, I did do that in the chair.) so they bought me some Sonic games. I got Sonic & Knuckles Collection and Sonic R, although Sonic R was my favourite. It was probably the fact that the graphics were better. I always wondered why even if I got a Chaos Emerald, it said I didn't. Only years later would I find out that you need to come in 1st place to get the emeralds. I also found out that you could unlock characters by getting all of the medals in a level.

Later on, I got the Sonic Adventure games on Gamecube. I remember those ones a lot better than the PC ones. Since then I have been a big fan.

It was initially through Sonic Advance with an old friend of mine while I was still in Europe, though I only played on it once.

My first major exposure to Sonic though was Sonic Underground in 2002. Looking back, I can't believe I managed to like it somehow. xD;; Oh well, youngsters are more impressionable anyway.

My first Sonic game, however, when I had the chance to fully immerse myself into the series, was Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Way different from what I felt on Super Mario Sunshine or The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker; it was a whole other experience! I was hooked on the series from then on!

Back in 2002, my grandpa had a SEGA Genesis and the classic Sonic games, barring S&K of course. Whenever I would go to his house I would play on it all the time. My first ever video game was Sonic The Hedgehog 3.

Eventually we saw an ad in a Spider-Man comic for Sonic And Knuckles. My grandpa ordered it right away and a few weeks later it was finally there. When I first went over to his house to play it, he hid the game and made me and my brother search for it with the promise of whoever found it first would be the first one to play it. I found it hiding in a bookshelf by the stairs. After I found it, we went upstairs to play it.

Once the game booted up and it let me choose which character I wanted to be, I immediately went for Knuckles saying "OMG Knux is playable!? SWEET! Screw Sonic!". I got up to Flying Battery Zone Act 1 and got a game over (yeah I sucked back then, get over it). The rest is history.

The first time sonic ran into my life was at my grandpa's Christmas party when I was five years old. My gift fron him was a Nintendo GameCube and two games, Sonic Mega Collection and Super Monkey Ball. The first Sonic game I played was Sonic 1. I remember how great Green Hill Zone was and that annoying Motorbug that killed my twice. Then I remember the Checkerball boss fight. It took me about five tries, and when I succeeded, it took me about a minute and thirty seconds. Then I remember the countless Game Overs and lava burns. Then I remember Spring Yard Sone, It was one of my favorites. I loved the colors and the bumpers and the springs. Then I remember Labryrinth Zone. I could NEVER beat it until about two months later. Shortly after, I learned about Level Select. That is how I discovered Scrap Brain Zone and Final Zone. For some reason, I was OK at Scrap Brain, especially Act 3 (the one that is similar to Labyrinth). Then I remember Final Zone. It took about ten Game Overs, but I finally did it! Then I moved on to Sonic 2. This was followed by rage.

So technically Sonic Mega Collection was my first game and the GameCube was my first console. But I will always say that Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit) was my first Sonic experience. I truly am a Sonic fan, from Genesis, to Dreamcast, and to PS3.

Yep, it all started when I was 4 years old. I used to live with my grandparents, because long story short my parents never have been financially stable at all. My cousins would bring over their Genesis from time to time, and one day my other cousin who was 2 at the time, wanted me to play Sonic. I was hesitant, being a 4 year old girl meant that I wanted to play with my barbies, but he handed me the controller and bam I was instantly hooked! Later on I was the one who brought her Genesis over for everyone to play, until my grandmother passed away when I was 16... Every since 1994, I've been a fan of Sonic and I think I always will be no matter what Sega throws at us next. But if you'd look at my wiki page and old posts you'd know this already as this type of thread always seems to pop up every year and gets locked.

When I was 5 my Aunt had a model 2 Genesis with Sonic 3, I'd come to her room and play it, I always loved going to the secret at the near-start to get a good view of the Skies.

Angel Island..
I recall not liking this stage due to the opening's wall. (Where Knuckles uppercuts you.) but the opening is practically glued inside my brain.

Hydrocity...
Go left go left GO LEFT GO LEFT GO LEFT!!!

I recall having a problem with the piranha's in the first act. The wall section always scared me and I asked my aunt to do it for me. But it was worth it just to see the kickass background and lovely tubes. What a rush it was to go down those things.

Marble Garden zone...
I honestly did't like this zone, the crumbling ruins sections always scared me, Bubbles was a pain, and the boss...dear god it was annoying. I did like the spinning chain balls though.

Carnival Night
This was probably my favorite level despite that damn barrel. It was so detailed and beautiful, the background was just eye-melting. The music is stuck in my head, and the miniboss...

Too bad the boss was a letdown, 10 years later.

In the end, my aunt gave me her Genesis after the PS1 came into attention, and I've been looking to repair it for years now.

I was 9. My parents gifted me a Game Gear which came with a 4-in-1 cartridge of some sort, and inside it was a small tennis game, which for some reason, had Sonic as an arbiter and I found that particular character very interesting but didn't really pay attention to it untill the next day I woke up for going to school and turned on the TV, just to find that Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog were showing on TV and I thought 'hey, it's the same character of the tennis game!' and after watching the episode I instantly fell in love with it and did some research just to find out there were games and toys and many more stuff about him, and after that day I started buying games and so on.

I think that's the closest memory I have...because to be honest, I can't really recall anymore as to how I became a Sonic fan, just because of the show and my Game Gear XD

For as long as I can remember I had a Megadrive with Sonic 1 on it, although I didn't really play Sonic much because I distinctly remember
being terrified of fighting Robotnik, for ages I would just hand the controller over to one of my parents to beat him and hide under my bed while
they fought him, I think it was the music that did it.

Eventually I got over that but where I really fell in love with the franchise was when I was dropped off in a creche while my parents went shopping, it had a Sega Megadrive, before then I wasn't
even aware of Sonic 2's existence. I remember playing the Aladdin mega drive game too while I was there so Sonic 3 must have been out at this point as well, but I was only a kid so I had no way of knowing
these things at the time.

After this is probably when I got into reading the Fleetway comics and watching the Adventure of Sonic The Hedgehog cartoon, which played a key role in my obsession with the series, probably even more so
than the games at the time.

EDIT: I just read through some of the previous posts in this thread, I had no idea the community here was so young